Carefree planners prioritize interior parking, lane reductions and roundabout study for Town Center

Town planning staff presented an updated circulation and signage plan for Carefree Town Center at a public workshop and recommended prioritizing interior parking and traffic-calming measures to improve parking availability and circulation in the core.

The recommendation follows multi-year work that began in 2021 to address visitor wayfinding, sidewalk gaps and a recurring parking shortfall. Staff said the analysis shows most parking in the Town Center is privately held and that public spaces are limited: “there appears to be about an 80 to a 150 spot deficit in available parking at Town Center,” the staff member (planner) said during the meeting.

The plan being advanced would remove on-street parking from the two main arterials (Tom Darlington and Cave Creek Road) and instead seek at least three types of interior responses: negotiated shared-parking agreements with private owners, short-term acquisition or leasing of vacant lots for interim surface parking, and targeted redevelopment (including potential parking as part of a Town Hall site reuse). Staff said earlier analyses found roughly 31% of Town Center parking was publicly available and the rest privately held, a discrepancy that complicates visitor access and event capacity.

Why this matters: downtown businesses, restaurant prospects and special events depend on nearby parking. Staff noted event conditions (for example, a Thunderbird event observed in 2021) drove public lots to near capacity. The proposed shift off arterials aims to preserve curbside landscaping and a continuous multiuse path while locating customer parking closer to the interior of Town Center where feasible.

Key points from the meeting - Parking counts and capacity: staff explained parking surveys from 2021–2022 found most private lots underutilized during normal weekends but public lots reached “effective capacity” during events. Staff summarized: “In the early stages of this process ... there appears to be about an 80 to a 150 spot deficit in available parking at Town Center.” - On-street parking and arterials: the most recent 2025 draft cross-section shows one travel lane in each direction on the two arterials, a dedicated bike lane, a landscape/buffer zone and an off-street multiuse path; the recommendation presented to the group removes routine on-street parking from those arterials in favor of interior parking solutions. - Interior parking opportunities: meeting participants pointed to several nearby vacant or underused parcels (behind Spanish Village, south of the gas station and near Town Hall) as candidates for leased or town‑owned interim parking; staff said acquisition or short-term leasing is an option the town could pursue and that the town already has authority over some right-of-way areas that made earlier on-street proposals attractive. - Traffic-calming and intersection work: attendees strongly favored studying improvements at several problem intersections, including the eastbound/right-turn movement from Cave Creek Road onto Tom Darlington and the Bloody Basin/entrance approaches. The staff member summarized community input as support for studying traffic circles/roundabouts and for low-cost stripe/deflection treatments where a full rework is not currently feasible. - Pedestrian/bike facilities and materials: the plan includes a shared-use path and sidewalks to fill gaps and extend pedestrian access to the commercial core. Some participants objected to removing an adjacent bike lane in favor of an off-street shared path, citing local rider habits and maintenance concerns; staff described the decision as balancing user comfort and overall road-width constraints.

Discussion versus decisions - Discussion only: the meeting included extended discussion about private‑lot partnerships, whether to add angled versus parallel on-street parking, the feasibility and cost of grading some sloped parcels, and how seasonal/event usage should shape long-term design choices. - Direction / assignment: staff were asked to pursue three near-term actions aggressively — (1) pursue shared-parking conversations and potential leases with private lot owners (banks, hotels and other owners were specifically discussed), (2) evaluate acquisition or short-term leasing of identified vacant parcels for interim surface parking, and (3) develop a final project assessment document to support funding applications and next-phase engineering. Those items were described as next steps rather than finalized agreements. - Formal outcome / consensus: participants agreed on a planning direction rather than passing a formal ordinance or appropriating funds at the meeting. The group reached consensus to: (a) prioritize interior parking solutions instead of routine on-street arterial parking, (b) pursue a one-lane-per-direction arterial cross-section with a buffer and multiuse path, and (c) study and pursue traffic-circle/roundabout improvements at the three flagged intersections. Staff said they would carry these directions into the final project assessment and implementation steps.

Context and timeline Staff noted this work began in 2021, with multiple design iterations (2021, 2023 and 2024) that progressively reduced the amount of proposed on-street parking from a high of roughly 200 added curb spaces down to the current recommendation that focuses on interior solutions. The project team recommended treating the 2025 cross-section as the planning baseline for funding and engineering work; staff said some items (land acquisition, private-parking agreements, or structural parking) carry higher cost and complexity and will require separate approvals or funding steps.

Quotes “The public and private parking inventory shows a mismatch that complicates visitors’ ability to find spaces,” the staff member (planner) said. “We need to look internally for opportunities rather than relying on arterials.”

Stacy Christians, planning coordinator, noted stakeholders had walked potential lots and identified areas that could be repurposed for interim parking while longer-term redevelopment occurs.

What’s next Staff will finalize a project assessment document for the circulation and parking plan for submittal to the planning and zoning commission and, subsequently, to the town council. Staff also said they would pursue targeted outreach to private parcel owners (banks, hotels and large lot owners) and report back on lease or acquisition options. The meeting did not include a vote to acquire property or to change the roadway right-of-way; those actions would require separate approvals and funding.

The decisions steer the town away from routine on-street arterial parking and toward a mix of negotiated shared parking, targeted acquisitions/leases and traffic‑calming engineering that will be designed and phased based on funding and property-owner coordination.